This article contains tips to help you get your employees to follow procedures.
By reading this article, we’re assuming that you’ve already documented your procedures. If you haven’t, consider using Beezop. Beezop makes it easy to document procedures in a way that your team will love.
Now let’s get on with the article.
You’ve taken the time to write out your business procedures. You shared them with your employees, but they aren’t following them.
Annoying? Of course.
Is this a common problem? Yes, very common.
Can you solve it? Fortunately, yes!
But before we get started, here’s something you need to understand:
“People avoid stressful experiences.”
It’s a psychological behavior called Avoidance. If we think something will be stressful or difficult, we generally avoid it.
In the same way, if it’s not easy for your employees to follow your procedures, they’ll avoid doing so.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time to show you how to get employees to follow your procedures.
1. Make your procedures easy to understand
Consider the content and structure of your procedures and implement these tips:
- Use simple terms that your employees can understand
- Make the content relatable to actual day-to-day work
- Write for their level of education & experience
- Break procedures into smaller bits that they can digest easily
If you follow these tips correctly, employees will find it easy to understand and follow your procedures.
Writing clear procedures will also help new employees to understand your processes quickly.
2. Document procedures as simple steps or checklists
People don’t like reading manuals. So when you document your procedures like manuals, people won’t read them.
The better approach is to document procedures in a step-by-step or checklist format.
When procedures are documented as steps, people find it easier to follow them.
People also love to check things off. There’s a sense of satisfaction that comes from checking things off a list.
So, instead of writing paragraphs and pages of content, break them down into steps, or make them a checklist.
With Beezop, your employees can follow your procedures in both step and checklist formats. Learn more about Beezop.
3. Make it easy for employees to access procedures
If employees have to ask where the procedures are, then there’s a problem.
First of all, avoid using printed SOP documents.
- They can get lost, damaged, or stolen
- They are difficult to update
- Employees can’t search through them
Next, ensure that your procedures are all in one place so that your employees know where to find them.
- Store all your procedures in a single location or platform
- Create a single-source-of-truth for all procedures
Finally, procedures should be accessible whenever employees need them
- Employees should be able to access procedures at the office, from home, or on the go.
- Your team should be able to access procedures using their laptops, tablets, or phones.
- Your procedures should be accessible via the web.
With Beezop, all your procedures are in one place, searchable, and accessible by your team anytime, anywhere. Learn more about Beezop.
4. Help employees to understand the importance of following procedures
Sometimes, people don’t know the importance of things until you tell them.
So, help your employees understand the benefits they’ll enjoy when they follow procedures:
- They get to perform their tasks without errors
- They will build a reputation for doing high-quality work
- They will not waste their time fixing faulty work
- They can work without being micro-managed
- They can be trusted with higher responsibilities
Often, by following procedures, they will also avoid safety hazards.
5. Use rewards and positive reinforcements
Everyone loves to be appreciated. And according to research, workplaces where employees are happy, are 37% more productive.
Recognizing or rewarding employees for following procedures will motivate them to continue.
You can consider these simple ways:
- Praise them openly
- Give them an award
- Give a personalized card
- Give them a gift card
TL;DR
How to Get Employees to Follow Procedures:
- Make your procedures easy to understand
- Document procedures as steps or checklists
- Make it easy to access the procedures
- Help employees understand the importance of following procedures
- Reward and recognize them for following procedures